NEW YORK — Advocates for homeless New Yorkers say a proposal now in the state Legislature could drastically reduce and prevent homelessness across the state.

There now are about 60,000 people living in homeless shelters in New York, and the cost of keeping a family in a welfare hotel can be $3,500 a month or more. According to Marc Greenberg, executive director of the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing, the housing allowance currently given to people on public assistance simply isn't enough to cover the cost of a habitable apartment.

"This Home Stability Support would raise the level of the shelter allowance to around 85 percent of the prevailing rents in a particular area, and then the cities could make up the difference,” Greenberg said.

Home Stability Support is included in the Democrat-controlled state Assembly's budget plan, but may face opposition in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Greenberg said Home Stability Support would target people who receive public assistance and those in danger of becoming homeless, helping them stay in their homes.

"People could continue to work and their kids could continue to go to school and people would continue to have their support system,” he said, "as opposed to being pulled up from one place to another place where they don't know anyone, they can't really live a full life."

The plan approved by the Assembly would be phased in over five years with an initial state investment of $40 million.

The New York City Comptroller estimated the plan could reduce the city's shelter population by 80 percent for families with children and 60 percent for adult families over ten years.

Greenberg said he believes approval of the measure should go beyond politics.

"It makes sense, it saves money and it also saves lives,” he said. "There’s really no reason to vote against it except to use it as a bargaining chip for something else."

Last week, 95 faith leaders from 15 cities across the state signed a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo urging him to support the plan.


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As urban homelessness and drug use grab the spotlight, rural areas such as Branson are left in the shadows, with critical needs going unmet. But local community organizations are stepping up to provide much-needed support.

Branson has a growing crisis where substance use and homelessness intersect, with about 1,500 people, mostly those who are working but still considered low-income, living in extended-stay motels. An estimated 20% of the population is homeless, and motel living heightens the risk of substance-use and mental-health issues.

Marietta Hagan, project coordinator, Population Health Department with Cox Health, said there are the challenges to addressing these issues in rural areas.

"Lack of transportation in rural areas, lack of that financial and other resources. Branson is considered a rural area, even though we get 9 million visitors a year - we only have a population of 12,000 and the services to support those," she said.

Also, rural areas often have fewer homeless shelters, making it harder for people to find emergency housing or long-term support. Hagan said the good news is, people who have recovered from drug use and homelessness are working together to help those still struggling.

Hagan said it's almost like a multiplying factor - and once a person starts to struggle with issues stemming from poverty, especially in rural areas, it increases their risk of struggling with other issues such as drug use and homelessness - and this leads to stigmas and a lack of support.

"If you live in a small town that has 300 people, and you are labeled as a drug user, you're often ostracized from your community and you're not given that social support and that community that you can turn to maybe when you're struggling with something," she continued.

Between 2022 and 2023, Missouri saw a 12% increase in homelessness and a 24% rise in unsheltered homelessness.


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Some University of Nebraska students are gaining career skills as they work to address the state's affordable housing shortage by making small, practical dwellings available in some of Omaha's most distressed areas.

The price of a new home in the U.S. has jumped from about $140,000 to more than $340,000 in the last two decades, making affordable homes harder to come by and leaving more people without a place to live. Omaha reflects the trend.

Jeffrey Day, professor of architecture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said the city needs 30,000 additional housing units to keep up with demand, and 60% have to qualify as "affordable."

"The other challenge in Omaha is that 80% of the city's residentially zoned land does not allow multifamily, or even small multifamily, housing," Day pointed out. "It's really all zoned for single-family dwellings, which makes it very hard to increase density in the city in order to produce more units."

Day's student-run Fabrication And Construction Team is designing and building small, affordable housing units on lots in older parts of Omaha, with an eye toward serving the aging population. The lab is working with Partners for Livable Omaha to plan and build the houses.

Because Omaha's strict zoning laws prohibit multifamily housing, the design and construction teams are creating Accessory Dwelling Units and cottage clusters, sharing a common outdoor space. Day stressed multifamily homes will have to play a part in solving Omaha's affordable housing dilemma at some point.

"We're focusing on the single-family dwelling and looking at a very small, extremely efficient dwelling that's designed to be accommodating for aging people who might have mobility challenges or other kind of issues," Day explained. "It allows them to downsize what might have been a larger home."

Students are already constructing parts of the dwellings in the lab. Now they are waiting for city approval to subdivide some key Omaha lots and erect the homes.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


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The number of Colorado families experiencing homelessness rose by 134%, from 3,600 in 2023 to more than 8,500 families in 2024, according to new federal data.

Rep. Manny Rutinel, D-Commerce City, said addressing homelessness will be a priority in the legislative session kicking off on Wednesday. He plans to introduce a bill to strengthen the state's support infrastructure, in part by creating special regional homelessness response districts.

"So that localities -- municipalities, counties -- can build up resources and pool them together with other counties and municipalities," Rutinel explained. "So that they can take on this really important issue head on, together."

The annual point-in-time count conducted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found 18,715 Coloradans were homeless, a 30% increase from 2023. Rutinel believes better coordination between state agencies, local governments and nonprofits can both prevent and reduce homelessness.

Cathy Alderman, chief communications and public policy officer for the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, said it is important for multiple sectors touching the lives of people experiencing homelessness, including education, social services, transportation and health care, to lean into the challenge. For example, when people have access to health care, they're more likely to have stable housing, and a person's housing situation also affects their health.

"We often find that building that relationship with somebody who is living outside through the provision of health care means that we can get them on a pathway to housing," Alderman pointed out.

There are currently 28 housing units sitting vacant for every person experiencing homelessness in the U.S., according to a recent report, largely because developers make bigger profits building what are essentially tax-haven investments for hedge funds and the wealthy.

Rutinel stressed for most Coloradans living paycheck to paycheck, the risk of experiencing homelessness is very real.

"Unfortunately, if you don't have the resources saved up to be able to get yourself through a tough time or you don't have the family or friend infrastructure in place to house you in those moments, you end up on the streets," Rutinel observed.